For any 3217644767340672907899084554130 consecutive integers, 400440702414394285778534400000 will have 79 as a lowest prime factor. [Schuler]

The smallest prime p such that when multiplied with p-1 (78 * 79 = 6162) the result is a near-tautonymic number, i.e., in this case a concatenation of two successive numbers 61 and 62 in ascending order. Note that the first halve 61 is prime as well. [De Geest]

The smallest emirp p whose the sum plus the product of
digits is equal p. [Loungrides]

On page 79 of the novel Contact by Carl Sagan, it says that no astrophysical process is likely to generate prime numbers.

Illinois has stated that one may not ride in the left hand lane for more than a half mile ... potential fine of $79. [Patterson]

Choose two 2-digit numbers of the form n and n+2 from
different decades (for our purpose two 2-digit numbers are
from different decades if their leftmost digits are not
equal). Now reverse the digits of these two numbers and
subtract the smaller from the larger. The result is always
79. For example, 58 and 60 becomes 85 - 6 = 79. [Green]

"God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with the prime numbers." -- Paul Erdős, 79 letter quote. [Homewood]

A Foucault Pendulum located in the rotunda of the Science
Museum of Virginia contains 79 pegs.

The sum of the first 79 brilliant numbers is divisible by
79 (44003/79=557 which is also a prime). [Gaydos]

Sharks and humans have 79 differences in the beta chain of
hemoglobin. [Nowicki]

79 permutations of the 6 non-prime digits (014689) are
prime numbers, counting 0 as a permissible first digit. [Gaydos]

79 + 5 1/3 = 84 + 2/6; the digits on the left side of the equation are odd, and the digits on the right are even. Did you notice that all digits greater than "0" are used exactly once? Of course now the entire curio is pandigital. [Friend and
Honaker]

Let p be a prime number congruent to 3 modulo 4. When p is less than 79: (a) x^2 - py^2 = 5 has integer solutions iff
p is square modulo 5; (b) px^2 - y^2 = 7 has integer solutions iff p is square modulo 7. Curiously, 79 is the smallest p
(and the only p less than 223) that does not follow the same rules. [Yosei]

(There are 12 curios for this number that have not yet been approved by an editor.)